Safe In My Arms
by Uchiha-tsumi
Summary: Kakashi knows that Sasuke is dead, but he hopes he knows someone who can give the Uchiha life again... Please read and comment.
1. Sasuke

This is just the first chapter everyone.

Summary: Kakashi never wanted sasuke to feel so much pain. But he preferred that the boy felt something.

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto.

...

Sasuke coiled his knee's against his chest. There was nothing he could do to press the fogging visions out of his mind. The child had seen to much, and he had broken.

No one denied that Sasuke died that night with the Uchiha clan. Perhaps Itachi Uchiha liked to believe that his brother would come back to kill him, but he was wrong.

Itachi Uchiha may have fought to keep his brother safe, but he killed him that night.

Kakashi eyed the raven hair, frowning deep enough to wrinkle the mask. " Sasuke," He whispered.

If there was anyone who knew that sasuke was dead, it was Kakashi. Because Kakashi was the ANBU elite who was called in to deal with the corpse of the Uchiha's...and it was he who had located little Sasuke, masking his chakra and heartbeat so that they would bury him with the Uchiha's.

He didnt need to say that that was what he wanted, because Kakashi could sence it, and he could hear his sharingan crying out to the boy.

**Flashback**

The white haired man stepped towards Sasuke, cautiously reaching out a hand to the crying boy. It would be a lie to say that he was saddened by those tears...because tears meant that the boy was still alive.

Sasuke stared at him impassively, pressing down the remaining tears. He burried them in kakashi's masked gaze.

The Hatake could reserve himself no longer, and rushed to the boy, scooping him into a warm embrace.

He was responded by a quick shift, and was helpless but to fall into the floor beside Sasuke.

The Uchiha stared at Kakashi as he marred the floor with his hard skin. Those masks were heavy, and the tatami mats were fragile.

" Get up" He ordered coldly.

Kakashi gazed up, utterly confused. Was he going to let himself be ordered around by this small boy?

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, black holes damning kakashi for even entering, " Get up, and get out.." The boy's voice seethed with anger that the hatake could not comprehend.

Though, the canine senses within him argued, he stood up and attempted to hold the boy again.

As expected, raven hair side stepped, but Kakashi would not go down so easily this time. He hshifted his weight, and used his ninja skills to wrap his arms around the resilient boy.

There was absolutely NO response from Sasuke, not even anger any longer. Kakashi gazed through the small slits in his mask. Was the boy...confused.

He was trying to find what emotion to respond with...wasnt he? Trying to calculate how a human should feel..

That's right; Kakashi reminded himself...Sasuke was dead.

**End**

Sasuke stared down at the floor. When he noted Kakashi's shadow, the Uchiha heir stood to attention.

Kakashi awarded him with a classic smile, hidden under the creases of the mask.

" Sasuke" He said simply, and his pupil looked up.

Kakashi took a breath, and embraced sasuke. Sasuke didn't avoid it this time...he was used to it by now.

" Sasuke" He repeated, and sasuke surpressed a growl..what did Kakashi want anyway?  
" Sasuke...close your eyes." The boy blinked, and struggled a little, " What are you-" He was hushed as Kakashi shoved his head into his chest. " Close your eyes...this is all a dream, I promise. You'll wake up...and none of this will have happened."

Sasuke thrashed and beat Kakashi's chest as oxygen ran thin. " Let me go!" He tried to scream, but Kakashi was holding him too tight, and he was buried to deep in Konoha cotton, a type of fabric as hole-less as iron.

Kakashi closed his own eyes and pressed harder until he felt Sasuke's muscles tense for a moment and completely release as Sasuke collapsed in his arms.

...

Oh no! What will happen next?

Please review and comment.


	2. Wish

Hey everyone! New chapter…sorry it took so long, hope that you like!

Disclaimer: this just in…Naruto isn't mine…what a surprise….

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The jounin Hatake stared down at Sasuke's sleeping features. Really, there wasn't that much of a difference. Sasuke always looked like this, still, unchanging, desolate...he shook his head to press out the thoughts, for that would all change soon enough.

A small smile traced across his mouth as he ran over his planned actions. One more challenge. Perhaps after this, his haunted sharingan would refrain from pounding guilt to his fragile head in the form of a migraine.

And maybe...just maybe, he would get to know the real Sasuke that Mikoto Uchiha has raised and loved. Sasuke Uchiha who was irresistibly adorable. Sasuke Uchiha who had a horrible tendency of gazing away from prying eyes when he felt nervous. And most importantly, Sasuke Uchiha, whom Itachi had left to live.

Kakashi stood up, noting that the boy was nearly weightless in his arms; he swung the child over his shoulder and swept off into the dark catacombs of the forest.

...

Shadowed eyes glared at the man. He didn't need to see that accursed crimson to know that he was considering the many ways to kill the fish boy.

Kisame shivered, " Itachi," He began, and then it occurred to him, that despite the fact that his partner was the renowned murderer of one of the most prodigious Konoha clans, he was also human, and Kisame's sword was more than capable of feeding on that precious chakra of Itachi's.

With this thought, his reserve grew stronger, "Itachi, I am reporting to Pein. Follow me if you like, or rot here like the bastard you are."

Itachi did not flinch, in fact, he showed no evidence of having listened, or heard.

Kisame grunted and shuffled off, pressing the tea house's draping ribbons out of his view.

The Uchiha stared at his tea, swiveling it with a slight rock of his wrists. "You may approach, Kakashi Hatake."

Kakashi's eye reduced to a mere slit, observing each of the prodigy's moves. A low chuckle emitted from Itachi's throat, "I have no reason to attack you so openly."

To tell the honest truth, Kakashi was quite surprised that the conversation had carried on so far. It wasn't often that Uchiha Itachi spoke to a renowned Konoha nin'...especially in a non-hostile matter, might he add.

Taking this as a sign to continue, he did just that, "Some lives are better taken."  
Itachi Uchiha was not one for riddles, and he did not intend to indulge Kakashi's fantasies that he did, " If you wish to speak with me of my brother, I have nothing more to say."

"I have him"

"hn."

"With me."

"Hn."

"I intend to save him from this meaningless existence."

"Is that so." His voice was rather monotonous, lacking the tone of a question to form, rather, a statement.

"I won't stand for it any longer, Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke Uchiha will die by my hands."

The prodigy's eyes visibly narrowed, black licorice slipping into rage. " ..." No words would escape the tight grip he had forced his teeth into.

Kakashi allowed himself a small smile, "Sasuke Uchiha is under my custody."

"Don't act as if I care. You wouldn't touch the boy."

Kakashi set an unconscious Sasuke right beside Itachi.

"You're right."

"Stop playing games."

"Then start paying attention to your brother."

Itachi frowned. Even with Sasuke's frail weightless form cradled against him, he felt nothing but resent.

Though, oddly enough, he felt not hatred, nor enigmaty from the boy, just an overwhelming presence of death, and it was beginning to cave in on his nerves.

A genjutsu? No, not this strong against his sharingan...

"This is Sasuke now." Kakashi said coldly.

"This is not Sasuke."

"Help me...Itachi Uchiha."

The elder Uchiha brushed a stray lock out of perfection's face, marveling at the glorious beauty of his small Otouto.

"Help me Itachi Uchiha." He repeated, and Itachi lifted Sasuke into his own arms, standing away from the table,

"This is your answer." He said simply, and Kakashi would have to have been Sasuke to not have smiled at this.

Perhaps...Sasuke still stood a chance.


	3. Floors

Itachi hovered over the form of his younger brother, admiring those childish features that his stoic appearance would never successfully copy

Itachi hovered over the form of his younger brother, admiring those childish features that his stoic appearance would never successfully copy.

Kakashi watched the two, biting away a smile. He had made the right decision. He was sure of that now.

The boy moaned softly, eyes shuddering open to reveal deathly obsidian. Eyes that held so little, Itachi could clearly see his reflection in the boys eyes.

Sasuke blinked again to clear his vision. Was it not the murderer of the Uchiha's sitting beside him, watching him. This was dangerous.

He jumped to his feet, immediately assuming a more capable taijutsu position.

The elder stared at the wall, " Your efforts are futile."

Kakashi stepped forward, "Sasuke."

The boy whirled around, " You...Brought me here…" dark pools scanned Kakashi for a hostile reaction, preparing a defense of some sort.

"Enough of you…Sasuke. I want Sasuke."

The boy stared at the floor now long enough to recognize the obsessive polishing on the marble. His hair obscured his face "I am sasuke."

"You are a shadow."

Kakashi stepped back, allowing the two to talk.

Itachi however would deal no longer with such impudence. In aggression, he spun Sasuke around to meet his eyes, forcing a delicate chin up, " You are NOT Sasuke." He wasted few words, and it was rare that the great Itachi Uchiha would repeat himself, however in such dire matters…he found speech painfully necessary.

Sasuke stared strait through him, calculating the emotions that he knew he was expected to feel. Trying to assume that hatred that his brother had willed to him, " I hate you." He growled. Gritting his teeth together. To assume that he was not Sasuke; to accuse him of being the fake; What audacity…

Itachi chuckled dryly, running a hand through his hair. "If only that were true…"

"It –" Sasuke began to protest but was interrupted.

"Prove it." He held out his hands, " Kill me." The man challenged, eyes lit in a bout of frenzy. Something that Sasuke doubted he could imitate.

Sasuke turned, and grabbed at a spare pole, his eyes stared into nothing, lost in a dark black room despite his true location.

He raised slim arms and slung one back, intent on shoving the iron beast through a particularly important chest cavity.

With a stern force, he thrust the spear through the man.

Kakashi raced over, "Sasuke, no!"

The man that once held Itachi's appearance dissipated into that of one of the Uchiha's. A tall man, with a broad chin and a sharp nose.

Sasuke twirled the beast, ignoring the intrusion.

Kakashi pulled Sasuke away, "No Sasuke!"

Itachi reanimated behind the two, and the Uchiha body dissipated into yet another being. A simple villager, who toppled to the floor, and stained it.

Sasuke's eyes remained locked on that floor, oblivious to the tight hold dragging him down.

"The floor…"

Itachi nodded, "It isn't clean anymore."

"You stained it- it was clean."

"Who stabbed the man Sasuke? Not I."

"I spilt crimson onto the tile…" He admit outloud.

Kakashi held tighter, "Sasuke enough! Please." A cold hand settled on his shoulder and ripped him away. He looked up, hurt staining his eyes. The Uchiha was doing nothing to help…did he have no pity? No guilt for what he had done to the boy?!

Sasuke turned, "It's…"

" Dirty." Itachi finished, crouching beside Sasuke, "But you'll clean it."

Sasuke turned "The floor was recently waxed Itachi…the blood has settled within it."

Prodigious as his family was, he expected to have been proud at a moment like this. When Sasuke had noted something so insignificant, yet so essential. But alas, he felt nothing of the interaction with the boy.

"Mikoto-ka-san always told us to stay indoors after she waxed the floors…didn't she?"

Sasuke paused" …"

Itachi waited for a response.

"Is this a test?"

Itachi rose a brow.

"We didn't have wooden floors, we had tatami mats."

Itachi nodded, and Sasuke took a step back, "I won't waste time entertaining you like this." In a swift movement, he joined his hands together.

Boar Tiger…he went through the motions of a recognizable uchiha jutsu.

Of course, Itachi was well beyond familiar with the attack, and merely grabbed at Sasuke's wrists to stop him.

" If I must…then I will proceed my own way."

Kakashi's eyes widened as Itachi shoved Sasuke against the wall, hands curled tightly around the boys thin neck.

" The floors Sasuke."

Sasuke struggled in his grasp, facing the burning in his lungs accompanied by short whispers of fading breath.

"Die."

Itachi curled tighter, and flicked his brother from the wall to the floor, burying his face in the blood.

Though Kakashi had attempted to interfere, he was having difficulties defeating Itachi's bunshin that had materialized the moment he doubted Itachi's actions.

Sasuke trembled, "Ngg." Words slurred in his mouth.

The elder Uchiha calmed his own breathing, "THAT is not Sasuke." He spat, referring to the reflection.

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I apologize if the whole floor analogy is somewhat confusing. However, I wanted to take a medical approach, and its really common for traumatized patients to focus on a seemingly insignificant object to avoid something else.

It will make more sense later.

please send comments, reviews.

For those of you who did, or who have added my stories, I adore you and appreciate it oh so much. Thanks!

Please check out my other story 'Crusade'


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